Adsorbent from Textile Waste for Removal of Textile Reactive Dye from Water – Equilibrium Adsorption and Kinetics

The removal of textile reactive dye from an aqueous solution on a new adsorbent prepared from waste cotton knitted fabric was investigated in this study. Waste cotton textile, used for the production of adsorbents, is a by-product of the cutting of stacked parts of cotton knitwear planned for the production of women’s T-shirts. The degree of efficiency of a paper pattern determines the amount of collected waste. The qualitative and quantitative characterization of the new adsorbent showed carbon and oxygen to be dominant in the chemical composition. A longer contact time means a greater amount of dye on the adsorbent, i.e. the dye concentration in the solution decreases with the duration of the adsorption process. The percentage of removed dye decreases with an increase in the initial dye concentration in the solution. However, the actual amount of adsorbed dye increases as the initial dye concentration increases. The results for equilibrium adsorption show that the Langmuir isotherm can be used for the interpretation of reactive dye adsorption on a new adsorbent. The pseudo-first order model can be fully used to describe the kinetics of dye adsorption on an adsorbent, with respect to valid results for statistical indicators. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the new adsorbent obtained from waste textiles has the potential to remove textile reactive dye from aqueous solutions.

Nonlinear Kinetic and Equilibrium Adsorption Isotherm Study of Cadmium (II) Sorption by Dacryodes edulis Biomass

The kinetics and equilibrium adsorption isotherm of cadmium (II) adsorption onto Dacryodes edulis (native peer seed) biomass was studied using a nonlinear approach, which is unpopular but proven in some literature to be more reliable and easier. In optimizing the process, about 98% removal of the cadmium ion was achieved within five minutes at pH 7 by contacting just 30 mg of the Dacryodes edulis seed biomass with the adsorbate solution of a concentration of 100 mg/L. Non-linear investigation of the kinetics and adsorption isotherms of the process was done using the R console statistical and computing software. The results indicated that the Elovich mechanism and the Freundlich adsorption isotherm most suitably described the kinetics and adsorption isotherm, respectively, of the process as provided by their least values of the sum of squared residuals (SSR). This outcome implied a chemical adsorption (chemisorption) mechanism and a multi-layer coverage by the cadmium ions on heterogeneous active sites of the biomass surface with a Freundlich constant or capacity factor, Kf of 27.83 mg g-1, heterogeneity factor, 1/n of 0.2614 and Elovich constants, α and β of 7.0 mg g−1 s−1 and 1.0 g mg-1, respectively. These findings indicate that Dacryodes edulis seed biomass has a good potential for cadmium (II) adsorption. Keywords: Dacryodes edulis, Elovich kinetic model, Freundlich isotherm, Langmuir isotherm, Nonlinear

Theoretical Study for an Adsorption Refrigerator

Adsorption cooling technology is one of the effective means to convert low grade thermal energy in to effective cooling, which improves energy efficiency and lowers environmental pollution. The main objective of this study is to investigate the thermal performance of an adsorption refrigerator theoretically. The working adsorbent/adsorbate pair used is Granular Activated Carbon, GAC/R134a pa*ir. The effect of different design parameters and operating conditions on the system performance is studied and interpreted.Some assumptions and approximations are also considered. A computer program is written using Matlab. Results show that the equilibrium adsorption capacity is highly affected by the driving temperature and equilibrium pressure. Increasing equilibrium pressure leads to a corresponding increase in the equilibrium adsorption capacity whereas it is value is decreased as the driving temperature increases. Moreover, increasing the driving and evaporator temperatures raise the values of the Specific Cooling Effect (SCE) andCoefficient of Performance (COP). The maximum values of SCE and COP are 60 KJ/kg and 0.4 corresponding to driving and evaporator temperatures of 100 oC and 20 oC respectively. However, increasing the condenser temperature leads to a remarked decrease in SCE and COP of the cooling system. SCE and COP values are 32 KJ/kg and 0.22 at driving and condenser temperatures of 100 oC and 40 oC respectively. When comparing the present study results with literature, there is a good agreement in general. It is clear that the adsorption cooling system can be driven effectively by low grade heat sources such as, solar energy, waste heat energy, geothermal energy…etc.

Removal of Pb(II) Ions from Aqueous Solution Using Modified Starch

In this study, two types of modified cassava starch samples (MCS and MWS) prepared from commercially available native cassava starch (NCS) and native cassava starch extracted using the wet method (NWS) were investigated for the removal of Pb(II) ions from aqueous solutions. MCS and MWS samples were synthesized under acidic conditions using Pluronic 123 as the structure-directing agent and tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as the chemical modifying agent. Modified starch samples were characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and a nitrogen (N2) gas adsorption–desorption analyser. MCS and MWS showed enhanced thermal stabilities upon acid hydrolysis and chemical modification. The effects of contact time and initial Pb(II) concentration were studied through batch adsorption experiments. Adsorption kinetics followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The equilibrium adsorption data were analysed and compared by the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models. The coefficient correlation (R2) was employed as a measure of the fit. The Langmuir model fitted well with equilibrium adsorption data, giving a maximum Pb(II) adsorption capacity of 370.37 and 294.12 mg/g for MWS and MCS, respectively. Modified samples exhibited a higher desorption efficiency of over 97%. This study demonstrated that modified starch could be utilized for Pb(II) removal from industrial wastewater.